OSAKA, Japan, Nov. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- World Grand Prix champion China moved closer to its first World Cup title in 18 years as it rallied past the United States in a five-set thriller here on Thursday.

    The Chinese women, who landed their last championship at the World Cup in 1985, clinched a ninth straight win 25-20, 20-25, 24-26, 25-20 and 15-11 in one hour and 51 minutes. With only two matches remaining in the round-robin tournament, China has virtually secured a top three finish and a spot in the Athens Olympics in 2004 due to its superior set ratio.

    World champion Italy slipped to a 7-2 win-loss record with a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Cuba earlier on Thursday, while Brazilbeat Japan in straight sets to keep pressure on title favorite China.

    "It was a really tough match, fortunately we had made good preparation before it," said Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe.

    "Confidence helped us win through. Our players did not panic when we were 2-1 down and we fought back together to clinch the victory," Chen added.

    The United States' Japanese head coach Toshiaki Yoshida was obviously disappointing after his side' second loss at the tournament.

    "Both teams played very well today, the Chinese team performed good offensive plays in the fifth set," Yoshida said. "We did not prepare well in crucial times by making several unforced errors."

    The Americans were once 6-4 up in the tiebreaker, but China staged a 5-0 run from then on to grab the lead and never looked back.

    "Generally speaking, our team is inferior to the Chinese team and we have to improve in every aspect to catch up with them," Yoshida added.

    Zhou Suhong led four Chinese in double digits with 20 points. Zhao Ruirui, Yang Hao and Liu Ya'nan added 19, 16 and 13 points respectively.

    The Brazilians, who suffered their only loss at the World Cup in the opener against China, extended their winning streak to eight with the 25-21, 25-21 and 25-23 victory.

    Sydney Olympics champion Cuba beat Italy 25-22, 25-22 and 25-22to keep alive its hopes of grabbing one of the three tickets to the Athens Olympics on offer.

    Zoila Barros had excellent services through the match to lift Cuba to the well-earned victory and a 6-3 record.

    Brazil now stands second behind the unbeaten Chinese with matches against Italy and the United States ahead. Italy and the United States share a 7-2 record while the world champion places third due to better set ratio.

    In Thursday's other action, South Korea swept the Dominican Republic, Poland downed Argentina 3-0 and Turkey outclassed Egypt 3-0.

    Twelve teams are competing at the tournament with top three finishers to qualify for the Athens Olympics. Enditem